Parachute
by PiplupFanRose
Summary: Rena Dragonius was just a widowed mother of two, trying to make a living in Midgar after the death of her husband during a SOLDIER mission. It seems the planet had other plans for her when she was reunited with an old friend from SOLDIER, Cloud Strife. She joins in his fight to protect the planet, but the ghosts of her past start to haunt her yet again...


I sighed as I walked through Sector 7. At this point, with the way this planet was going and with Avalanche attacking the reactors, I was contemplating moving back to Nibelheim. I shook my head when the thought crossed my mind. "No," I muttered. "Too out of the way from where I work. Way too out of the way." I continued walking before stopping and looking up at one of the pillars holding the Upper Plate. There was a fairly decent sized crowd gathering at the fence, and I ran over. "What's going on?" I asked one of the men standing next to me.

"Looks like Avalanche and ShinRa are fighting up there," The man said, just as clueless as I was. Avalanche, I thought to myself, The terrorist group. I shook my head.

"Avalanche, huh?" I asked softly, watching the scene unfold until the final person who was running up to the platform on top of the pillar was out of view. The gunfire and yelling continued, however, causing me some concern. A couple of bodies fell from the pillar and I gasped. I may have been in SOLDIER before, but the sight of dead bodies has haunted me for years. I shook my head and left the area, running to the fifth sector that I called home. Of course, as it was part of lower Midgar, it was nothing but slums and not a safe area to raise two kids, but it was just part of life. Not everyone can live on the Upper Plate, I told myself, If he was still around, however... I cut that thought off as I opened the door to my house, jumping at the sound of a distant explosion. I instantly knew what caused it. I quickly rushed inside and turned on the tv.

"Sure enough," I muttered upon hearing the news that Sector 7 was destroyed. I stood up from the less than comfortable chair and walked over to the door. "Storm, Reveral, I'm going to head out for a bit. I'm gonna go up to the ShinRa building," I called out to my sons.

"Can we come with?" Reveral asked, poking his head out from the doorway leading to his room. I heard Storm laugh, and Reveral turned to face his brother. "What? I want to see what the Upper Plate is like!"

"We've already been up there, remember," I heard Storm start to scold his younger brother as I walked out the door. I adjusted the strap holding my sword and walked to the sixth sector. I was well aware of the wires that one could climb to get to the Upper Plate and the ShinRa building. I hated having to go through the sixth sector though, considering that was where Don Conero stayed, and Minerva help any woman who caught his eye. Cutting through the occasional crowd of people, I made my way to my target. I looked up to gauge the distance that I would be climbing. I cracked my knuckles and started scaling the mess of wires and scrap metal, not even afraid of what could happen when I reached the top. It's just the ShinRa building, I told myself, You still have clearance, you technically never truly left SOLDIER. I heard some chatter below me and I carefully looked down. Three people were climbing as well. I saw the First Class SOLDIER attire one of the two men were wearing and I raised an eyebrow.

"Hey!" I called down to them. "What are you guys doing? It's dangerous up here!" I knew that the last sentence would cause them to laugh, considering that I was climbing as well. I got no response, but I expected as much. I shook my head and continued climbing and I was soon looking up at the ShinRa building ahead of me. I heard the other people arrive as well and turned to look over at them. I smiled when I recognized the one in the SOLDIER.

"Cloud!" I laughed, running over. "How have you been?"

The two people accompanying Cloud looked at me, almost prepared to attack me. Cloud looked over at them, a man and a woman, and shook his head. "Calm down, she's an old friend of mine," he said calmly. "Rena, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you," I laughed, looking up at him.

"We have some... business to attend to with ShinRa," he said, the pause telling me all I needed to know.

"I see," I nodded, "Well, so do I."

"We do too!" I groaned when I heard Reveral's voice, and I turned to see the twins running over.

"Storm, Reveral, didn't I tell you to stay home?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. "You know that I don't want you two near this place! Not after..."

Storm walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Mom." he said calmly, a smile on his face, "it's okay."

Reveral ran over to Cloud with a smile. "Oh shit! I didn't expect him to be here too!"

Cloud turned to the two other people and shrugged. "Well, I guess we've got more additions to our fight," he told them. "Rena, this is Barret and Tifa. Barret, Tifa, those three are Rena, Storm, and Reveral. I knew Rena from SOLDIER, and the two young men are her sons."

Tifa nodded and smiled at me, "I remember you, Rena. You were in Nibelheim once during one of the missions SOLDIER had sent out." I nodded.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it," I asked, "You and Cloud have both matured since I last saw you five years ago."

"What are we waiting for? We need to talk to ShinRa!" Barret interjected, and Cloud nodded.

"Right. Come on," Cloud nodded and he walked forward, closer to the massive building. I hesitated a bit before joining him, making sure Storm and Reveral were close.

"It's been a while since we were here," Reveral chuckled as he looked up at the building. "Floors 67 and 68, if I remember right..." Storm nodded solemnly, affirming his brother's statement.

"Let's bust on in!" Cloud ordered, readying his sword before charging through the front entrance. Tifa and Barret followed quickly, and I glanced back at my sons, making sure they were armed before we ran in as well. Guards rushed toward us and Cloud swung his sword down on one of them, Tifa rushing at the guard afterward and kicking them back. Gunfire echoed as Barret gunned some of the other guards down and we moved forward, running to the third floor before getting into the elevator.

"I didn't want to cause a commotion before we found Aerith," Cloud muttered as the doors closed.

"Aerith?" I asked, "What's she doing here?"

"Turks took her," he said, shaking his head. An alarm interrupted our thoughts, and the elevator seemed to go haywire.

"Cloud, do something!" Tifa yelled and he ran over and slammed the stop button.

"I sense someone," Storm muttered as he stepped forward. The doors opened and two more soldiers were waiting for us. I huffed and charged them, kicking them away from the doors and finished them off quickly before walking back inside.

"The ShinRa building has 70 floors, and we can only get up to the 59th without key cards if I remember right," I sighed.

"Well, we'll find out," Cloud said as he stopped the elevator, the number above the door reading 59. "Well, here we are."


End file.
